Mary Alexis Iaccarino, MD: The Important Role of Family in Veterans' Treatment

The family is an extremely important part of treatment. First of all, they know the veteran best. So they are often the first ones to recognize a change. “My loved one went away to war, and when they came back, they looked different. And I noticed it first.” So, they often are pushing their loved one, their veteran loved one, to come to treatment. And they can provide phenomenal collateral information on what that person’s experiencing at home, what they look like, where their difficulties are, and also what they looked like prior to all this exposure. So families are a very important part of identifying injury, and then also can really push someone to treatment, and support them through that treatment. Another important part about families is helping family members understand the injury and understand the treatments. So, at Home Base when you come for a two-week intensive treatment program, a family member actually accompanies you for several days. And there’s an entire family program that goes on, which teaches the family member about the treatment interventions, about the medications their loved one might be taking, about the symptoms they might have so that they can better support their loved one through treatment for PTSD or TBI. BrainLine is powered in part by Wounded Warrior Project to honor and empower post-9/11 injured service members, veterans, and their families.